Every album we get from Scott “Wino” Weinrich at this stage of his career feels like playing with house money. As a living legend in the American doom scene, Wino had his fingerprints on so much music over the decades that trying to quantify it all can make your head spin. As the founder of early doom act The Obsessed in the 1970s, he helped shape the sound of the genre in America along with Pentagram, Trouble, and Saint Vitus. His time as the frontman for Saint Vitus from 1986 to 1991 was also very influential and albums like Born too Late and V are stone-cold classics. Then there are his Spirit Caravan, The Hidden Hand and Shrinebuilder efforts, and so much more. 2017 was the last time he gifted us with new music from The Obsessed, and as usual with new Wino material, I was very eager to get into it. Gilded Sorrow is about what you expect from Wino at this point. It’s gritty, bluesy 70s hard rock with varying degrees of doom influences seeping in. It’s music for sketchy dive bars and biker clubs where you get hard drinks and cracked molars. That’s what brings Steel to the prison yard.
Things open with the classic Wino track “Daughter of an Echo.” It’s the kind of rough-hewn 70s rock Wino lives and breathes and his crunchy, fuzzy riffs feel like an old friend back in town with a bottle of pricey bourbon. It sounds like The Obsessed and sometimes like any number of his other projects—tough, stripped-down, and sincere as fuck. In short, it’s exactly what I want from Wino. From there he drags you through the various influences that shaped his sound over the long years. “It’s Not OK” is pissed-off, cynical Wino shaking his fist at the world. The title track is the album centerpiece —an extra doomy plodder with dismal emotions aplenty and a kind of shabby grandiosity that only Wino could pull off. It shares some core DNA with Saint Vitus but it’s distinctly The Obsessed.
Other highlights include “Realize a Dream,” which is a more urgent, upbeat hard rocker with some signs not everything is bleak in the man’s mindshare these days. It has a subtle Southern rock swagger that reminds of me of early Lynyrd Skynyrd, and that’s always a plus. “Stoned Back to the Bomb Age” is a vintage Wino product full of piss, vinegar, and pruno. I want a whole album of stuff just like this for nights when I need to hit the bottle with ne’er-do-well friends and shady associates. The heavy riffage is a joy and Wino spits some real venom vocally, sharing his disgust with aspects of the modern world. “Wellspring – Dark Sunshine” is also a fine conveyor of The Obsessed sound, forever stuck in the 70s and thrilled to be there. Wino’s playing is especially sharp and mean here. While no song is without merit, “Jailine” feels like something Unto Others (Untoothers) might have done and it’s a bit too light for my tastes. At 36 minutes and change, Gilded Sorrow is very concise and all too brief. It’s also not an instant kind of album. It requires some time spent letting it marinate your brain meat. I found things a bit underwhelming on the first spin, but with repeat listens the material blossomed and revealed itself. That said, this is a slightly less impactful collection of tunes than what we heard on Sacred and it can be a bit sleepy.
With only drummer Brian Costantin returning from the Sacred days, Wino assembled a new unit with Jason Taylor on guitar and Chris Angleberger on bass. Wino takes the lead on guitar and his riffing and moody, 70s-centric soloing is as good as ever. The man has always played with great feeling and continues to do so here. His moldy 70s-inflections are everywhere and drench the music in an old-timey, hard-edged vibe. His vocals are still strong and muscular. His lyrics may come across as world-weary but his voice remains vital and angry. I never get tired of his soulful crooning and rougher-edged bellowing and the man exudes an outlaw gravitas just as he did in the 80s.
I grew up with Wino regaling me with tales of hard living, lost souls, and dark places, and he’s still delivering the same goods. Gilded Sorrow is a fine addition to his catalog though it isn’t as crushing as Sacred. House money is house money though, and I’m going to spin the hell out of this thing in the coming years. You should too. It’s drinking music for olde, unkillable bastards made by the same.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: NA | Format Reviewed: Lossless
Label: Ripple Music
Websites: facebook.com/theobsessedofficial
Releases Worldwide: February 16th, 2024
